Having read this document in total, I would have the following
comments...
first BOB, this IS likely one of the most restrictive of all 'waivers'
that I have seen in many venues-- skiing , hang gliding, racing, bunjie,
boating, skydiving, extreme river rafting, or scuba diving, etc...
Should I ever dive with Phd-- I would sign it dive... period... without
concern...
Having said that I will modify my previous comments and will say that I
would CONDONE those that would sign this and through an act of
negligence on PHD part - break the signed waiver and sue the hell of
these guys...should that negligence be found in ANY court criminal or
civil...
The verbiage of this waiver goes way beyond what I have seen 10's of
others, seeking not only to indemnify PHD, but also recover costs
regardless if they were to loose a judgment...
BOB, it still aint ironclad and does not give any immunity...but the way
that item 16 (as Don has suggested) and Item 20 read.. PHD thinks they
are GOD like...which we know they are NOT...
Another item of interest is that in item 13... in signing, Phd assumes
that _I_ have the rights to limit all of my family, heirs to not pursue
and gain rightful damages.. which is a load of crap... What if I was a
minor... as one point, but not limiting it to this... my family has full
rights to pursue a suit regardless of what I, as an individual would
sign...

What urks the most is their arrogance to suggest that even Gross
Negligence on Their part will indemnify them and to boot...the only
recourse is through only Belize ( an unknown entity) courts and
tribunals... If they have office in the US, they CAN fall under US law
as has been substantiated in other matters, if they dont, a few dollars
more than they would pay to their Belizian friends could mean the
difference between justice and a royal buttwash...

Again to repeat- I would sign to dive, but would not expect my family
and heirs to adhere to this waiver when the shit hits the fan and it
turns out to be a result of PHD.. at that point I would have no control
over their activities and would only hope that they can prevail in the
matter to cover the significant loss that they have as a result of a
negligent act that caused my demise ...

having said that, the current situation, while horrific in nature in the
loss of life, does not appear on it's face to be a negligent act by PHD,
but only further information will tell us the real facts of the
situation...

Ken


Don Ward wrote:
>
> As I noted in another post, the Wave Dancer release can be found at:
> http://www.peterhughes.com/PDF%20Files/New%20Waiver%20-%20wave.pdf
>
> I have now taken the time to actually read the whole thing.  I have written
> blanket releases for scuba shops that teach and travel with groups.  But I
> found paragraph 16 particularly offensive.  If they are negligent in there
> handling of a passenger, and are forced to incur cost as a result, that
> release says the passenger shall pay them for that cost!
>
> Dive safe,
>
> /Don